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Disney To Release ‘Star Wars’ Spinoffs Based On Individual Characters

CEO Bob Iger made the disclosure in an interview on CNBC. He says that Larry Kasdan and Simon Kinberg are working on them — Deadline revealed exclusively back in November that they were getting involved — and they’re in addition to Disney‘s planned Star Wars VII, VIII and IX — the first of which is being penned by Michael Arndt and directed by JJ Abrams.

No word yet on which characters are involved in the spinoff films. Kasdan of course wrote Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi, and Kinberg’s franchise credits include X-Men. Here’s the Iger clip:

The Star Wars cinematic galaxy is about to experience a Big Bang. Lucasfilm is officially announcing new spinoff films that will expand the mythos and depths of the Star Wars universe in previously unexplored ways.

One of the standalone films will be written by Lawrence Kasdan, screenwriter of The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and co-writer of Return of the Jedi while the other will be penned by Simon Kinberg, writer of Sherlock Holmes and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The movies will be separate from the upcoming Episodes VII, VIII, and IX, on which Kasdan and Kinberg are also consulting, and are expected to be released sometime after Episode VII. Each standalone film will focus on a specific character, and two spinoff films are currently confirmed.

In a call to investors, Bob Iger, chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company, revealed while the original focus was on the highly-anticipated sequel trilogy, the idea of spinoff films was bandied about early and the additional films are now becoming a reality. "We are in development of a few standalone films," he said, "that are not part of the Star Wars saga...there are now creative entities working on developing scripts for what would be those standalone films."

I like the idea of visiting the expanded universe to generate more interest in the mainstream. Casual fans or movie only fans don't know about the Sith War or characters like Corran Horn.

I hope they don't do Yoda. He has enough attention and I personally feel his mystique adds to the character. Like Boba Fett before we found out he was just a xerox of Jango with a bad attitude. Now he's just one of a million other clones.